Versatile high current metal ion implantation facility

A metal ion implantation facility has been developed with which high current beams of practically all the solid metals of the periodic table can be produced. A multicathode, broad-beam, metal vapor vacuum arc ion source is used to produce repetitively pulsed metal ion beams at an extraction voltage of up to 100 kV, corresponding to an ion energy of up to several hundred kiloelectronvolts because of the ion charge state multiplicity, and with a beam current of up to several amps peak pulsed and several tens of milliamps time averaged delivered onto a downstream target. Implantation is done in a broad-beam mode, with a direct line of sight from ion source to target. Here we summarize some of the features of the ion source and the implantation facility that has been built up around it. (orig)